"But he is only one year older than I!"
"Oh, oh! In a year you also will be a little man, my little Childebert," replied Brunhild exchanging a diabolical glance with Chrotechilde; "you will then also have your royal establishment and your separate room—your chamberlains, your equerries, your slaves, all of them submissive to your every whim, like dogs to the switch."
"Oh, how I would like to be a year older, so as to have all those things that you promise me!"
"And so would I like to see you older—and Corbe also—and also Merovee, I would like to see you all of the age of Sigebert."
"Patience, madam," said Chrotechilde again exchanging infernal glances with Brunhild; "patience; it will all come about—but what noise is that in the large hall? I hear numerous steps approaching—it must be seigneur Warnachaire!"
CHAPTER IV.
QUEEN AND MAYOR OF THE PALACE.
Chrotechilde was not mistaken. The mayor of the palace of Burgundy had arrived, and now stepped, accompanied by Sigebert, into the chamber where Brunhild and her confidante were conversing with the kinglets, and anticipating the future with diabolical foresight.
Sigebert, a boy of barely eleven, was like his brothers, frail, sickly and pale. Nevertheless, what with the excitement of the journey and the joy at seeing his brothers, a slight flush suffused his sweet, wan face, which not all the execrable precepts of his grandmother had succeeded in depriving of its angelic appearance. He ran to embrace the aged Queen and then joyfully reciprocated the caresses and answered the volley of questions of his little brothers, who crowded around him. To each he handed some slight presents, which he brought from his journey and were locked in a small coffer that he took from the hands of one of his suite, and impulsively opened in order to give his brothers a token of remembrance. Chrotechilde availed herself of a favorable moment, and approaching the Queen said in a low voice:
"Madam, if you will take my advice, keep the two slaves until evening—between now and then we shall have time to make up our minds."